SHANGHAI MOTOR SHOW: China targets Ferrari

Just as it promised, little-known China-based Icona Design and Engineering revealed a hypercar to rival the new LaFerrari at the weekend’s Shanghai motor show.

Bearing a striking exterior that could be mistaken for a Ferrari design, the Vulcano was styled by former Nissan and Jaguar Land Rover designer Samuel Chuffart under the theme: ‘Beauty and the Beast come together’.

Icona says the one-off Vulcano concept – which wears red paint that, strangely enough, appears “almost black in the absence of light” -- presents “a consistent theme of dynamic triangles set in horizontal symmetry”.

The real reason for its being, however, appears to be two performance powertrains that, at least on paper, deliver outstanding vital statistics.

Dubbed ‘H-Turismo’, the most interesting is a front-engined 6.0-litre V12 that, when paired with a 119kW electric motor, sends up to 708kW to the rear wheels.

Icona says that in this specification the two-seat Vulcano super-coupe can accelerate to 100km/h in a Porsche-crushing 2.9 seconds, to 200km/h in less than 10 seconds and to a top speed of no less than 350km/h.

The second but no less outstanding powertrain, labelled ‘H-Competizione’, matches a twin-turbocharged petrol V6 with a pair of electric motors to deliver a combined output of 649kW.

Driving through all four wheels, the six-cylinder Vulcano is claimed to hit 100km/h only a tenth later, in three seconds flat.

Providing the sleek red supercar with enough performance to match Ferrari’s 708kW 6.3-litre V12 hybrid-powered LaFerrari, both hybrid powertrains are the work of former Ferrari technical director Claudio Lombardi.

See more photos of the Shanghai motor show at motoring.com.au

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